The weather in January

December's mild and wet weather continued into January, which was unceasingly disturbed and exceptionally wet with heavy rain on most days, making it one of the wettest Januaries ever. By the England and Wales precipitation series only January 1948 was wetter in 248 years of records. It was the mildest January since 2008 and also occasionally stormy, with severe gales during the first and last weeks of the month. The strongest winds were on 3 January when Alderney in the Channel Islands had a gust of 89mph.

Temperatures

The mean maximum temperature in January ranged from 10.6C at St Mary's, Isles of Scilly, to 4.1C at Dalwhinnie in Inverness-shire. Mean minimum temperature was from 7.3C, also at St Mary's, to 0.1C at Drumnadrochit, Inverness-shire. That made both mean maxima and mean minima 0.5 to 2.5 degrees above average. The Central England Temperature (CET) of 5.8C was 1.4 degrees above the long-term average, the highest since January 2008. In the last 100 years only 13 Januaries have been warmer. The highest recorded temperature was 14.1C at Bude, Cornwall, on 5 January. The month's lowest temperature was -6.6C at Altnaharra in Sutherland, also on 5 January. The lowest daytime maximum was 0.2C at Lake Vyrnw, Powys, on 30 January.

Rainfall

Averaged across England and Wales there was 173mm of rain or equivalent snow, which is 191% of the average. That made it the wettest January since 1948, and the second wettest in a record that reaches back to 1766. Scotland averaged 139mm of precipitation, or 146% of average, while Northern Ireland had 125mm, or 147% of the normal amount. The wettest location, as it was in December, was Tyndrum, Stirlingshire, which had 424mm. Kinloss in Morayshire was the driest with only 34mm, sitting as it does in the lee of the mountains when the flow is often south-west or westerly. The highest daily total was 69mm at Cluanie Inn, Wester Ross, on 6 January.

Sunshine

Despite being wet, England and Wales had about an average amount of sunshine with 61 hours, which is 103% of normal and places it 27th sunniest in the last 100 years. However, Scotland had only 33 hours, representing a meagre 65% of its average, and Northern Ireland recorded 48 hours, or 88% of the average. Coleshill, West Midlands, had the most sunshine with 91 hours, while Eskdalemuir in Dumfriesshire had the least with only 11 hours.